Women in Translation Month

As Women In Translation Month comes to an end, discover or re-discover the best of French literature, by women of course! Here is a selection of four translated novels to celebrate our female authors.

My Heart Hemmed In by Marie N’Diaye

Nadia and Ange, a couple of middle-aged school teachers, are satisfied with their life in Bordeaux. Convinced of their moral superiority, they keep their distance with the world (they refuse to own a TV, and avoid contact with neighors). They rejoice in their high-brow culture and the spare decoration of their home. But as a simmering threat looms over their marital bliss, Nadia and Ange come to realize that everyone in their community hate them. As they acknowledge this creeping hostility, an open wound appears on Ange’s stomach. Soon enough, the wound festers and pustules, causing Ange to retreat in his room. Determined to save him, Nadia decides to face her past, and to reconnect with her estranged ex-husband and son. In this psychological claustrophobic drama, Marie Ndiaye blurs the lines between fantastic, gothic, and domestic genre. Conjuring an atmosphere of paranoia and menace, My Heart Hemmed In creates a bizarre, foggy world made of strange coincidences, harsh cruelty and ever shifting relationships, where the truth is constantly eluding the reader.My Heart Hemmed In, a novel by Marie N’Diaye, translated from the French by Jordan Stump, Deep Vellum

Who You Think I am, a novel by Camille Laurens

Could social media be an opportunity to revive a 18th Century intrigue? If you master the art of both language and dramatization as brilliantly as Camille Laurens does, then the answer is a resounding yes. A distinguished college professor, Claire Millecam is a divorced mother of two teenagers, with a successful career in academia and a flighty lover in his mid-thirties name Joe. To better spy on her unreliable man, Claire creates a fake profile on Facebook, and befriends Chris, one of Joe’s best friends. Exit Claire Millecam; enter Claire Antunes: an attractive twenty-four year old woman with a fondness for photography and a temporary job in entertainment, who has not figured out what her future will be yet. Meanwhile, she gets to travel and accumulate a variety of experience. Read more.Who You Think I am, a novel by Camille Laurens, translated from the French by Adriana Hunter, Other Press

Not One Day, a novel by Anne Garréta

“What’s to be done with our inclinations? why not write something different, differently than you usually do? Once more, but with a new twist, rid yourself of yourself.” Anne Garréta

Not One Day is an intimate exploration of the delicate connection between memory, fantasy, love and desire. Garréta vows to write everyday about a woman from her past. With exquisite elegance, she revisits bygone loves and lusts, capturing memories of her past relationships in a captivating, erotic composition of momentary interactions and lasting impressions, of longing and loss.Not One Day, a novel by Anne Garréta, translated from the French by Emma Ramadan, Deep Vellum.

Based on A True Story a novel by Delphine de Vigan

The success of her last novel has left Delphine — the protagonist of de Vigan’s latest novel — vulnerable and out of inspiration. The feeling of being useless permeates her life: her children are now independent adults, while her companion, a busy journalist, spends a lot of time away from home. So when Delphine meets L, a charismatic and self-confident woman, she naively expects that this encounter will help her overcome her writer’s block. L is the ideal friend, endlessly available, always resourceful. Before long, L, who is also a writer, interferes with every aspect of Delphine’s existence, including the more private ones, and sucks the life out of her completely… c turns this bourgeois drama into a psychological thriller that will keep you up all night!Based on A True Story, a novel by Delphine de Vigan, translated from the French by Georges Miller

Reading List

My Heart Hemmed In by Marie N'Diaye

Nadia and Ange, a couple of middle-aged school teachers, are satisfied with their life in Bordeaux. Convinced of their moral superiority, they keep their distance with the world (they refuse to own a TV, and avoid contact with neighors). They rejoice in their high-brow culture and the spare decoration of their home. But as a simmering threat looms over their marital bliss, Nadia and Ange come to realize that everyone in their community hate them. As they acknowledge this creeping hostility, an open wound appears on Ange’s stomach. Soon enough, the wound festers and pustules, causing Ange to retreat in his room. Determined to save him, Nadia decides to face her past, and to reconnect with her estranged ex-husband and son. In this psychological claustrophobic drama, Marie Ndiaye blurs the lines between fantastic, gothic, and domestic genre. Conjuring an atmosphere of paranoia and menace, My Heart Hemmed In creates a bizarre, foggy world made of strange coincidences, harsh cruelty and ever shifting relationships, where the truth is constantly eluding the reader.

My Heart Hemmed In, a novel by Marie N’Diaye, translated from the French by Jordan Stump, Deep Vellum

After almost two decades of working in publishing, and a few round trips between Paris and New York, Miriam has decided to settle down at Albertine to do what she enjoys most: recommending books she loves. Somehow this also includes taking bizarre pictures for Albertine's social media outlets.

Not One Day begins with a maxim: "Not one day without a woman." What follows is an intimate, erotic, and sometimes bitter recounting of loves and lovers past, breathtakingly written, exploring the interplay between memory, fantasy, and desire. "For life is too short to submit to reading poorly... Learn More

Not One Day begins with a maxim: "Not one day without a woman." What follows is an intimate, erotic, and sometimes bitter recounting of loves and lovers past, breathtakingly written, exploring the interplay between memory, fantasy, and desire.... Learn More

Not One Day begins with a maxim: "Not one day without a woman." What follows is an intimate, erotic, and sometimes bitter recounting of loves and lovers past, breathtakingly written, exploring the... Learn More

Not One Day begins with a maxim: "Not one day without a woman." What follows is an intimate, erotic, and sometimes bitter recounting of loves and lovers past, breathtakingly written, exploring the interplay between memory, fantasy, and desire. "For life is too short to submit to reading poorly... Learn More

Not One Day begins with a maxim: "Not one day without a woman." What follows is an intimate, erotic, and sometimes bitter recounting of loves and lovers past, breathtakingly written, exploring the interplay between memory, fantasy, and desire.... Learn More

Not One Day begins with a maxim: "Not one day without a woman." What follows is an intimate, erotic, and sometimes bitter recounting of loves and lovers past, breathtakingly written, exploring the... Learn More

Not One Day begins with a maxim: "Not one day without a woman." What follows is an intimate, erotic, and sometimes bitter recounting of loves and lovers past, breathtakingly written, exploring the interplay between memory, fantasy, and desire. "For life is too short to submit to reading poorly... Learn More

Not One Day begins with a maxim: "Not one day without a woman." What follows is an intimate, erotic, and sometimes bitter recounting of loves and lovers past, breathtakingly written, exploring the interplay between memory, fantasy, and desire.... Learn More

Not One Day begins with a maxim: "Not one day without a woman." What follows is an intimate, erotic, and sometimes bitter recounting of loves and lovers past, breathtakingly written, exploring the... Learn More